The dream of every e-commerce seller—precise ad targeting during Black Friday's peak traffic leading to skyrocketing sales—turned into a nightmare for many Amazon merchants this year. The platform's U.S. advertising system experienced significant reporting delays and data inaccuracies during the critical shopping event, leaving sellers unable to track performance while burning through budgets.
Black Friday Advertising Chaos: Delayed Data Leads to Heavy Losses
Black Friday represents the most crucial sales period for cross-border e-commerce sellers, where every minute counts for revenue and profits. However, Amazon delivered an unwelcome surprise this year.
Multiple sources reported that starting late afternoon on Black Friday, Amazon's U.S. advertising dashboard began showing severe reporting lags. The displayed advertising metrics bore little resemblance to actual spending, with some sellers discovering their reported expenditures showed only half of what was actually being spent. This discrepancy left merchants blindly overspending without visibility into campaign performance.
The issue persisted through Saturday, covering the entire Black Friday-Cyber Monday peak shopping period. Preliminary estimates suggest affected sellers experienced budget overruns ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The glitch impacted Amazon's most popular advertising products, including Sponsored Products and Display Ads—which typically account for 80-90% of sellers' advertising budgets.
Amazon acknowledged the reporting delays on Sunday, stating the issue had been resolved. However, the belated response offered little consolation to sellers who suffered significant losses during the critical sales window. Some merchants have begun exploring compensation claims, though Amazon has yet to provide an official response regarding potential remedies.
Peak Season Advertising Pitfalls: Protective Measures for Sellers
Advertising system issues during major shopping events are not unprecedented, but the stakes are dramatically higher during Black Friday. With 2022's Black Friday sales growing 14% year-over-year and nearly 200 million Americans shopping during the five-day period, accurate advertising data becomes essential for strategic decision-making.
The reporting delays created a dangerous scenario where sellers might either overspend based on inaccurate data or unnecessarily reduce budgets and miss crucial sales opportunities—particularly damaging for seasonal products.
The incident raises questions about Amazon's advertising infrastructure, which generated $36 billion in revenue last year—surpassing even Prime subscription income. While advertising represents a growing profit center for Amazon, technical failures during peak periods risk eroding seller confidence in the platform's advertising solutions.
To mitigate risks during future high-stakes sales periods, e-commerce sellers should consider these protective measures:
- Establish clear campaign objectives: Define specific goals (sales growth, inventory clearance, brand awareness) and develop detailed advertising plans with budget allocations, keyword strategies, and audience targeting before peak seasons begin.
- Monitor performance metrics vigilantly: Despite potential reporting delays, track key indicators like click-through rates, conversion rates, and advertising cost of sales (ACOS) to identify anomalies requiring strategy adjustments.
- Implement spending controls: Set daily budget limits and adjust bidding strategies to prevent budget overruns during periods of intense advertising competition.
- Diversify marketing channels: Reduce dependence on any single platform by incorporating social media, search engine, and email marketing campaigns.
- Document evidence for potential claims: Maintain screenshots of advertising reports and sales data to support compensation requests if platform errors cause financial harm.
Conclusion: Heightened Caution During Peak Sales Periods
While Black Friday presents unparalleled revenue opportunities for e-commerce sellers, this year's advertising system failures underscore the importance of contingency planning. As Amazon's advertising platform grows increasingly critical to seller success, its reliability during peak periods will face greater scrutiny. The incident serves as a cautionary tale for merchants to approach high-stakes sales events with balanced optimism and prudent risk management.